Canadian hall of fame holds first gala
Inaugural ceremony also includes plea for more female artist representation
In 1968, Chilliwack founder Bill Henderson was asked what he thought he would be doing at the age of 40.
“Which was really old at the time,” says Henderson with a laugh. “I just had this picture of an old man with grey hair playing guitar. I’m just going to keep doing it.”
The band, which Henderson formed in Vancouver back in 1970, is still a going concern nearly half a century later with more than 30 members having passed through the ranks over the years.
On Sunday night, Chilliwack was one of four inductees into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame honoured at Calgary ’s Studio Bell, home of the National Music Centre. While the hall of fame has been inducting Canadian performers since 1978, it traditionally only inducts one artist per year. This was also the first time a ceremony was held.
Henderson was joined by several of his grey-haired Chilliwack bandmates on the red carpet and fellow inductees: veteran singer-songwriter Andy Kim, alt-country band Cowboy Junkies and the family of “Canada’s first teen idol” Bobby Curtola, who sold more than a million records in the 1960s and 1970s before his death in 2016.
Randy Bachman, Ron Sexsmith, the Barenaked Ladies’ Ed Robertson and the Skydiggers’ Andy Maize were also on hand as presenters. Country singer Gord Bamford received the Musicounts Inspired Minds Ambassador Award.
“A number of industry veterans came to me and said, ‘You need to induct more people, you’ve got this massive list of people worthy of induction and some of them are going to be passed away soon,’” said Allan Reid, president and CEO of the Junos and the Canadian Academy of Recording, Art and Science. “Bobby Curtola was actually one of the main drivers of this. They were saying to me, ‘You have to induct Bobby, he never got his due.’ He never won a Juno, he was never nominated for a Juno because he came before the Junos.”
“We feel like he is here with us,” said Curtola’s son Michael, who was among the singer’s family in Calgary for the induction. “We are going to do our best to be with him, too.”
The ceremony was a private, black-tie affair that featured 300 invited guests and included performances by Kim, Chilliwack and the Cowboy Junkies. Sexsmith performed Curtola’s 1962 hit Fortune Teller.
In her acceptance speech, Margo Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies went “rogue” and used the opportunity to point out the lack of female representation in the music industry, asking those “powerful” leaders in the audience to help usher in a new era that welcomes women into roles that they traditionally haven’t filled.
“I know we would all like to think that a boys’ club does not exist in our industry, but just look around you,” Timmins said. “Even tonight, there are 10 inductees and one woman. By my count, after tonight there will be 100 men and 10 women in the hall of fame. That’s not right.”
Meanwhile, Kim, who had a number of hits in the 1970s and cowrote the bubblegum-pop classic Sugar Sugar, says he was honoured by the induction, but was going to keep looking forward.
“I never go that far back, I try not to,” he said.
“I would like to think I’m able to write and make records and perform. Not for any other reason, just to be able to to it. That’s the gift for me.”